The principle of electro-osmosis is used in the field of soil mechanics to describe the effect of water moving through a non-granular soil from an anode to a cathode upon the application of a direct current power source. This principle has been used in the past to dewater soils to increase their strength. Electro-osmosis has also been utilized to assist pile driving by making the pile the cathode and having exteriorly placed anodes, but such prior methods are not useful when the soil lies below water level since the power will be transmitted through the water with little effect in the soil.
The present invention is directed to an improved method of assisting pile driving by electro-osmosis by directing the current down through the inside of the pile and up the outside of the pile through the soil adjacent to where the pile is being driven to move water through the soil whereby the pile can be more easily driven. The driving is made easier not only because of the increase in water content adjacent to the outer surface of the pile but also because of two additional phenomena. There is a repulsion between the negatively charged exterior pile surface and the natural negative charge of soil particles. Also, hydrogen gas bubbles form on the exterior surface of the pile due to electrolysis and these bubbles also tend to reduce the adhesion of a cohesive soil to the pile.